Ruggiero Ricci

“When you play Paganini, you can't hide. Everything is exposed.”

“The bow is the soul of the violin.”

“The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my wife.”

“Paganini is the hardest, not so much technically, but because he is the most exposed.”

“The audience doesn't care how many hours you practiced. They care about what they feel.”

“To be a great violinist, you must first be a great musician. To be a great musician, you must first be a great human being.”

“Technique is nothing more than the ability to transfer your musical ideas to the instrument.”

“The older I get, the more I realize that the most important thing is the music itself, not the performer.”

“A great artist is always a great man.”

“Intonation is a state of mind.”

“A wrong note is a small thing. A lack of passion is a catastrophe.”

“The music tells you how to play it. You just have to listen.”

“You have to have the sound in your head before you can get it out of the violin.”

“Practice is not just about repeating things. It's about solving problems.”